DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The instant application with Application Number 18/484,830 filed on 10/11/2023 is presented for examination. Claims 1-15 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mukherjee et al. (US 2015/0091502) (Hereinafter, Mukherjee) in view of Chiu et al. (US 2021/0367342).
With respect to claims 1 and 9, Mukherjee discloses a device for multiplexing a wireless charging (WLC) coil (Fig. 1, 100; Par. # 0002/0003) for near-field communication (NFC) (Fig. 1, 140), comprising: the WLC coil with a first end (Fig. 1, 115), a second end (Fig. 1, 130), and a first contact point located between the first end and the second end (Fig. 1, 115/130); a first terminal connected with the first end of the WLC coil (Para. # 0013: energy is coupled to the first coupling circuit 120 through the first port 115); a second terminal connected with the second end of the WLC coil
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(Para. # 0013:on the second port 130 and provided to NFC transceiver block 140 through the differential path 132a and 132b); wherein: the first terminal of the WLC coil is configured to be a first WLC terminal; the second terminal of the WLC coil is configured to be multiplexed as a second WLC terminal and a second NFC terminal (Para. # 0013: The inner antenna structure 110 with N2 number of turns is used for NFC communication. The NFC signals in differential form are received or transmitted on the second port 130 and provided to NFC transceiver block 140 through the differential path 132a and 132b. In one embodiment, the antenna arrangement 100 supports simultaneous functioning of both wireless charging mode and communication mode).
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Mukherjee, does not expressly disclose a and a third terminal connected with the first contact point of the WLC coil.
Chiu, on the other hand, discloses a and a third terminal connected with the first contact point of the WLC coil, the third terminal of the WLC coil is configured to be a first NFC terminal (Para. # 0024: he NFC antenna 110 includes a first section 208 that does not overlap the WLC 112 and is positioned over the second section of dielectric material 206 (e.g., ferrite layer). The NFC antenna 110 also includes a second section 210 and a third section 212 that extend at least partially over the WLC 112 with an angle between the second and third sections being in a range of 80 degrees to 160 degrees. The second section 210 and/or third section 212 may be positioned at least partially over a center, core, cavity, or internal diameter).
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MUKHERJEE and Chiu are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor namely shared antenna for wireless charging and nearfield communication and optimized NFC structure for reduced coupling.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the two coiled WLC and NFC system of Mukherjee into multiple coils as modified by Chiu for the benefit that multiple coils are used to integrate both power transfer and data communication into a single device, often on a shared PCB or in a compact form factor.
With respect to claims 2 and 10, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Chiu discloses wherein: the first WLC terminal and the second WLC terminal are connected to a battery to charge the battery wirelessly (Para. # 0017: the circuitry can couple a transceiver of the computing device 102-2 to the NFC antenna 110 or couple the battery to the WLC 112 to enable wireless reception or transmission of power by the computing device).
With respect to claims 3 and 11, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Mukherjee discloses wherein: the first NFC terminal and the second NFC terminal are connected to an NFC IC for the NFC IC to communicate through NFC with a target device (Para. # 0014: In such a case the IC with an antenna arrangement 100 utilizes magnetic coupling for establishing the communication. Also, the antenna arrangement 100 is used for transferring power from the industrial mechanical device to the IC without jeopardizing any isolation requirement).
With respect to claims 4 and 12, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Mukherjee discloses wherein: a number of turns of the WLC coil is in a range of 10-14 turns (Para. # 0012/0013), an inductance value of the WLC coil is in a range of 8-14 μH, and a wireless charging frequency for the WLC coil is approximately 150 kHz (Para. # 0015: the wireless charging unit 125 is isolated by the inductors L1 and L2. The inductors L1 and L2 offer a large impedance at NFC communication frequencies whereas the inductor L1 offers a very low impedance at the NFC communication frequencies).
With respect to claims 5 and 13, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Mukherjee discloses, wherein: an NFC antenna is formed between the first NFC terminal and the second NFC terminal (Para. # 0018: he antenna 340 is similar in connection and operation to antenna arrangement 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. The NFC transceiver block 350 transmits and receives NFC signals by inductive coupling via antenna 340. The second coupling circuit 355 provides impedance matching between the NFC transceiver block 350 and antenna 340. The first coupling circuit 335 also isolates the NFC signals from the wireless charging unit 330).
With respect to claims 6, and 14, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Mukherjee discloses, wherein a position of the first contact point depends on an inductance value of the NFC antenna (Para. #. 0002: a Near field communication antenna, a Wi-Fi antenna, a global positioning antenna, and a wireless charging antenna. Near field communication (NFC) is an emerging technology for short range wireless communication operating at 13.56 MHz. The size of the antenna used in NFC devices is large since an NFC device work on the principle of inductive coupling in which voltage/current is generated in one coil).
With respect to claim 7, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Mukherjee discloses wherein: a number of turns of the NFC antenna is in a range of 1-4 turns, an inductance value of the NFC antenna is in a range of 0.2-4.0 μH, and a communication frequency for the NFC antenna is approximately 13.56 MHz (Para. # 0018: a Near field communication antenna, a Wi-Fi antenna, a global positioning antenna, and a wireless charging antenna. Near field communication (NFC) is an emerging technology for short range wireless communication operating at 13.56 MHz).
With respect to claims 8, and 15, the combined references of Mukherjee and Chiu disclose the device for multiplexing the wireless charging (WLC) coil and near-filed communication (NFC) as describe above, further Mukherjee discloses wherein the WLC coil is formed in a circular shape or an oval shape (See reproduced Fig. 1 above, 115 and 130; circular or an oval shape).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YALKEW FANTU whose telephone number is (571)272-8928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DREW A DUNN can be reached at 571-272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YALKEW FANTU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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